I agree with you on this, except i do think as is, they could have been a major help in saving GM.
I say yes simply because most people these days dont give 2 shits about how a car handles or how much power it has, hell if they did, small cars would never sell in the first place. Your average person these days that is shopping for a small car will see that it holds 4 people comfortably, has a decent interior and gets 42 mpg.
On the other hand, there are people out there like us that do care about that kind of stuff. would i run out and buy a cruze? maybe, no it wouldnt be my first choice, but if i needed something cheap and that got good mileage to just replace my bonneville, i would. Would i much rather save up and spend the little extra on a G8 GT, fuck yes.